IT may seem elementary that a series of adaptations featuring the world’s greatest fictional detective would be a smash hit this year.

And that is how it has turned out for Erdington comic writer Ian Edginton as he puts the finishing touches to his fourth Sherlock Holmes graphic novel.

It has been a good 2010 for fans of the pipe-smoking deerstalker-clad hero, with Robert Downey Jr’s hit adventure film and the BBC’s modern re-telling Sherlock a prime time television success.

Ian, working with artist Ian Culbard, has adapted all four Holmes novels over the last year or so. The Hound of the Baskervilles, A Study In Scarlet and The Sign of the Four are out now and the The Valley of Fear follows early next year.

They are faithful versions, sticking to Arthur Conan Doyle’s originals as far as possible, including the ‘Pulp Fiction like’-opium scenes so often cut from mainstream screen versions. They have proved a huge success for independent publisher Self Made Hero, with copies selling around the world.

It was a dream assignment for Ian who has loved the adventures of Sherlock Holmes since childhood illness left him stuck at home in Quinton.

“When I was a kid I had glandular fever and was off school for a month or so. It was then I picked a big book club omnibus edition of Sherlock Holmes stories. It was a life-changing moment. I have read them cover to cover umpteen times.”

The detective stories have stood the test of time and the character, known for his clinical analysis and emotional detachment, is as popular as ever.

As well as these faithful adaptations, Ian is responsible for Victorian Undead, a B-movie style comic mixing Holmes’ adventures with zombies – tapping into the rapidly growing market for zombie cross-over fiction.

From his Erdington home he has dreamt up adventures for big money franchises such as Alien, Star Wars, Star Trek and Doctor Who, as well as developing his own characters for popular science-fiction monthly comic 2000AD.

Probably his most acclaimed work is Scarlet Traces, a sequel to HG Wells’ War of Worlds in which early 20th century Britain has harnessed the interstellar technology of the defeated Martian invaders.